From the outside, a commercial is a shoot day: set, camera, talent. From the inside, the shoot is the fourth station on a six-stage line — and the quality of the film is mostly decided in the first three. Below is each stage's output and its most common point of delay; keep this line in mind whenever you read a production timeline.
01 — Brief and strategy
Who is the film for, what must it say, on which channels will it run? No script gets written before these three questions are answered. Output: a one-page creative brief — audience, core message, channels, length and tone. Most common delay: the request to "fit both messages in". Two messages in one film are two half-messages.
02 — Script and storyboard
The idea goes to text first, then to frames. Output: an approved script plus a scene-by-scene storyboard or shot list. A change at this stage is a sentence; the same change on set is an hour, and in the edit it is sometimes impossible. Approve carefully here — every later stage leans on this paper.
03 — Pre-production
Locations lock, casting closes, permits arrive, and the shoot is planned hour by hour. Output: the schedule everyone holds on shoot day — which scene, what time, which gear. The sign of good pre-production is a boring shoot day: no surprises, no idle crew, no lost light.
04 — The shoot
The day the plan is executed. The set's invisible rule: the more discipline behind the camera, the more ease in front of it. Output: backed-up footage and sound. Delays are rarely born on set; a delay on set is usually a decision left open in stage 03 coming due.
05 — Edit and grade
Half the film is made at the desk: the edit builds rhythm, the grade builds atmosphere, the mix builds feeling. Output: a rough cut first (structure approval), then fine cut, color and sound. Revisions have a proper address: structural objections belong to the rough cut; asking to "swap the scenes around" at the grading stage means editing the film twice.
06 — Delivery and versions
Once the master is approved, the channel versions follow: 9:16 and 1:1 cuts, short bumpers, a subtitled version for silent viewing. Output: a file set named per channel, matching each platform's specs, plus the archive. Work with an air date writes this stage into the timeline from day one — exports and uploads are not a last-day job.
We run this entire line — from content plan to shoot to the delivery set — with one team: scope and process are on the commercial production page, and if you already have footage, video editing is available as a standalone service. Get a quote for your project.